Campaign of the Month:
September 2012

A Manifestation of Chaos

Dracioletto Machiovella

Description:

On Honor

“Honor? I justa met her – maybe she wanna be on top?! No, I joke. I’ma well familiar with the concept of honor – I just don’t care to have anything to do with it. You can no wear, eat, drink, spend, buy, sell, or use honor. Izza worthless! Wait, I take’a that back – you can use honor… if you’re dealing with a gullable idiota.”

On Alignment

I’va been asked before about my view of the world, of good and evil. I like to think of myself as a pragmatist. If I had a crossbow and there was an orc child holding a knife, before pulling the trigger, I would no stop to think ‘but it is a child’, however I would definitely yell “Ah, itza comin right at me”.

Bio:

From the journal of Dracioletto Machiavella

Amici, let me share with you, a little story of my youth. I’ma born the third son of a matriarchal merchant family, the Machiavellas. Mio padre was a diplomat from the Faery court of Celene, and mamma – she is, well, ‘Mamma’ with a capital ‘M’. It seemed a simple life then – learning the family business (which was no always so simple), and always, above all, making a profit.

I was born in the bustling city of Dyvers, in the year 471 CY, and tormented to a no end by miei fratelli, my brothers. Agapeto, the eldest was already a successful merchant and diplomat in his own right and Damiano, only a half century older than I already was excelling as a spy and thief. He woulda always sneak up a behind me and scare the merda out of me, il bastardo! Anyway, a short while later, this rival city of Dyvers became officially the “Free City of Greyhawk” and mio padre was sent to establish ties. Mamma saw an opportunity to break into a new market and left Agapeto to run the business in Dyvers. I wish she’da left Damiano as well!

In the new city, mio fratello Damiano took to the city like a venereal prostituta, making many a strange bedfellow, and soon the family was ‘trading’ well, playing Dyvers and Greyhawk against one another. All this Mamma approved but what was she to do with the little Dracioletto? The following year, business was booming smuggling supplies to a beseiged Thornward and selling the besiegers ammunition as well. So she pawna me off to Maestro Tyrnobius Belastin, a scholar, a business contact, and a family friend. He continued my education in the shifting world of political and mercantile opportunities, as well as introduced me to the physical sciences and the world of magic.

Maestro Tryno had some funny ideas he picka up from mystics and yogis in his travels, and he drilled them into his pupil without remorse. “A sharp mind is weakened by a dull body”, he would say, “and vice versa, too!”. And he introduce me to other colleagues (also family contacts, I woulda learn later) that educated me in the more gritty life skills. On certain evenings, I would be turned over to Zio (Uncle) Yedras and we would frequent the gambling halls and brothels of the old city. There I learned to blend in with the common folk and keep my mouth shut and my ears open. (I have been told this first lesson, I have forgotten… Vaffanculo!) Onna other days, Zia Reshanish would take me walking through the city, speaking only in a chosen language for the day. She wazza stickler for linguistics and idiomas and would cuss me out in five languages all at once, if I mispoke! Then there was Nunzio Gretzi who taught me to walk in midnight and stand still for hours atta time. I had the best time when we would climb the buildings and look down at all the people like ants, then run the rooftops jumping like crazy spiders in the night. And then there was Zio Ancalagon, who on one notable occasion took me to the Green Dragon Inn and asked me to wait outside while he conducted some business within. Memory fails me as to the exact nature of his business, but after evading the city guard, Maestro Trynobius decided perhaps it would be better if I was to stay outta the city for awhile, and we began our travels, a bit before my first century birthday.

The years past swiftly as I accompanied mio mentore across the Flaness on a variety of trading and scientific expeditions, basing our adventures from his tower outside Diamond Lake in the Cairn Hills. We traveled to the Bright Desert to study the ruins there, and reached the edge of Gnatmarsh to examine the local flora and fauna. When the state of New Mithas was founded, we went to study the man-beasts, which they did no appreciate much. Neither did the barbarian tribes of the north, who were up in arms about Vatun and his return. We fled to Chendl and stayed almost the year, studying the architecture and the famed canals, leaving just months before war came to the capitol. We spoke of history, arcane theory, nature, metaphysics, and physics. And all the while, waking at dawn to swim, ride, fish, hunt, run about, and exercise. Mamma Mia! All the while, the Maestro would find traders and travelers and fugitives; he would buy cheap and sell dear and we managing to stay ahead of the conflicts that seemed to spring all around us. Unfortunately, we were just too late to visit Celene before the Queen Yolande closed the borders and mio padre had already been recalled. We did, however, manage to visit with the Stonebiter clan in their Barrier Peaks hold for a brief couple months before being somewhat brusquely told to leave, their Great Doors clanging shut behind us. Eventually, time caught up to the Maestro who was old even for a human. The ache in his joints, the crick in his spine, and general decline of health meant our time together was drawing to a close. He presented me with my first spellbook and had me to return to Greyhawk, and to Mamma.

You know, you woulda think that after many long years, that I woulda be welcomed back with open arms and maybe a feast, no? But that no is the way of our family. I was given some money, to invest or waste as I saw fit, and then Mamma told me “Dracioletto – you’va grown up now. You gotta go out into the world and make your own fortune, your own contacts. And when you have made a lotta money and business contacts, you come back and the family izza stronger for it.” So, I took the money and my few possessions, purchased some travelling gear, and set out in search of opportunity. And oh boy, whatta mess I’ma in now!